Chapter 11: Unraveling

Lyyr stormed out of the room surreptitiously wiping at her eyes and spotted both Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan lurking a sort ways down the hall. She could tell immediately that they were waiting for her. She started towards them debating the merits of reading them the riot act for leaving her to be scrapped over the coals, and then she noticed that they were not alone. Anakin was with them and with effort Lyyr reigned in her temper. She did not want him to see her angry. It was Ani who spotted her first, the boy had a knock for knowing where she was. He left the Jedi and walked towards her. Obi-Wan made a move to restrain Anakin, probably thinking that he was just wandering off. He looked up and caught Lyyr's eyes the young man smiled wanly at her but she ignored it.

"Lyyr why weren't you on the transport with me?" Anakin demanded his voice serious. She could feel the anxiety behind his words. His emotions battered painfully against her own raw nerves. Lyyr tried to set that aside and knelt down so that she was eye level with the boy and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Master Qui-Gon wanted me to meet some important people," she told him her tone of voice just as serious. "I would have told you Ani but the transport had left before I could," that was a bit of a stretch but saw no harm on letting him think it had been planned all along.

"Oh," was Anakin's response and she felt the anxiety flow out of him that relaxed her in turn. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I had forgotten," she admitted. Glancing up Lyyr saw both Jedi watching her with speculation in their eyes. Their gazes unnerved her.

"Lyyr," Anakin's now excited voice recaptured her attention. "You met the Jedi Council didn't you, just like I'm going to. Does this mean you are going to be a Jedi too?" He continued in a breathless rush his blue eyes sparkling with a sense of adventure as this new idea carried him away.

Lyyr couldn't help herself; she burst out in laughter his enthusiasm contagious. She pulled him into a quick hug. The laughter was just what she needed, after that calamity of an interview. She let him go, ruffled his hair then stood up. Anakin pulled a face in protest.

"Lyyr you're acting like mom," Ani complained. She was used to getting that complaint from him. Anakin would say that whenever she indulged in an unexpected show of affection.

"Am I not allowed to hug my baby brother?" She asked wrinkling her noise at him making him laugh. The moment between them was interrupted by Qui-Gon placing a hand on Anakin's shoulder.

"Come Anakin," the Jedi announced, "it's time for you to meet the Jedi Council."

Mace watched the girl leave and her agitation visible for anyone with eyes to see it even though she tried her best to remain calm. The silence after her departure was profound. She had left every single council member in a confused mixture of their own thoughts and feelings.

He watched, attempting to settle his own thoughts and feelings, before turning to his fellow Jedi Masters. When he finally thought that he had achieved the proper level of serenity and objectivity he turned his attention outwards. Looking to the right Mace suddenly found himself staring into the green globe-like eyes of Master Yoda.

"Of the girl, what think you? Hmm..?" The venerable old master asked him.

"The Force is strong with her," he answered slowly, "there is no denying that." He finished hesitant to say what everyone else were clearly thinking.

"Trained, the girl should be," was Master Yoda's immediate reply. "Uses the Force she does, without knowing, dangerous that is."

"Indeed," Windu replied, "her control is remarkable for such subconscious use. Qui-Gon was right to call her a vergence in the Force." Jinn is right, more than he knows…, he continued the thought silently.

Mace could not forget how she used the Force throughout the entire interview. She seemed to be reading only surface thoughts and emotions. Still there were times when she looked at him with those violet eyes and Mace would have sworn that she saw past the Jedi Master's well-built defenses; to places that Mace kept even himself locked out of.

"She must be trained," Master Mundi resolutely proclaimed into the silence Windu's last remark had created. Several other council members nodded in agreement.

"Too old, she is," Yoda said in opposition to her training. There were nods of agreement to Yoda's statement as well.

"The Force is strong with her," Mundi persisted, again councilmembers nodded their agreement. It was evident that the council was conflicted.

"Not just the Force," Mace murmured almost to himself drawing the attention of the entire High Council. "Her mother is strong with her as well," he explained speaking firmer.

"Uncanny, the resemblance is, yes." Master Yoda was the first to recover. Uncanny is an understatement, Mace thought mockingly; reflecting that Yoda was a master of understatement. There had only been one other person whose eyes could pierce his defenses the way young Lyyr's had. It was not hard for him to accept Lyyr as that Jedi's daughter; after all, they had the same eyes.

"Yes, uncanny," Mace muttered, before turning his gaze to the rest of the council members. "Still, the fact remains we are ill-equipped to deal with the child of a Jedi that shows such force-sensitivity as she does, especially the child of two Jedi."

"What do you propose that we do?" Depa Billaba the Chalactan Jedi Master and Mace Windu's former padawan asked. "Do we train her despite her age, or do we disregard her despite her potential and because of her age?" It was another remark that sent the council into a conflicted silence.

"Ask her we will," Master Yoda said with an air of finality. "Decide, she shall."

"Until then," Mace continued for Yoda, "let us test Jinn's other vergence."

Qui-Gon and Anakin disappeared into the council chamber and the girl watched them her eyes boring a hole into Qui-Gon's back. As soon as the door slide shut behind them a restlessness, an overwhelming need to move seemed to take a hold of her. Lyyr was used to such feelings; after a fight (if she wasn't expected at Shol's) she would walk around Mos Espa for hours trying to settle herself. She needed fresh air and went searching it. Down the hallway Lyyr spotted a balcony and moved swiftly towards the promise of air. She walked past Obi-Wan ignoring his attempt to get her attention. Her thoughts were a tangled mess and she did not trust herself around anyone else.

"Enough with these bloody Jedi," she snarled angrily under her breath. The anger was directed internally at herself and her inability to control herself.

With a heavy sigh she leaned against the railing and stared at the traffic that flew by underneath her. They must think me a fool, sentimental and weak; she mentally berated herself. Lyyr could not say what possessed her to answer their questions so fully and with such honesty. She had never been so forthcoming with Shmi when questioned by her. As for Anakin, she never told the boy anything and he often pestered her with questions for hours on end.

There had been something about those Jedi that had persuaded her to open up despite her natural suspicions. It occurred to her that they might have played with her mind to get her to talk. But she dismissed the thought; reasoning that they would have dispelled her bitterness and anger, as well as the nerves and fear she felt. If she had been tampered with then it should have been easier for her to talk and she wouldn't have felt like each word was a struggle to say. She almost wished they had tampered with her mind, they could make all those awful experiences just disappear. Mesmerized by the traffic she churned that thought over before shuddering. Her life may have been a nightmare but it had made her strong and resilient. Feeling overwhelmed she put her head in her hands.

Gradually she became aware of voices arguing and she straightened up not wanting to be caught looking weak; especially since she recognized the voices:

"Don't defy the Council, Master…not again," she heard Obi-Wan plead. The response was lost in the traffic noise.

"You could be sitting on the Council by now if you would just follow the code." Obi-Wan continued and a smile twitched about Lyyr's lips. It amused her to learn that Qui-Gon was in a habit of disobeying. "They will not go along with you this time." Obi-Wan predicted.

"You still have much to learn, my young apprentice." Qui-Gon replied to Obi-Wan's doubts. By now they had reached the balcony railing, Qui-Gon stood next to her silently for a minute.

"What do you think of the Council?" Qui-Gon asked turning to face Lyyr.

"Stoic," she responded shortly. She saw him stifle a smile.

"Yes, they think it's best to live objectively without allowing emotions to cloud their judgment."

"Ah," she contemplated that for a minute, "then I would not make a good Jedi."

"You may be surprised Lyyr," he murmured diverting his attention back to the traffic. She did not know if he had meant for her to hear that or not so she did not answer. The silence suited Lyyr and her pensive mood. After a while she became aware of eyes on her. She looked up to find Obi-Wan watching her. She gazed directly back into his blue-gray eyes; her own eyes held a challenge in them and what she saw in his confused her.

"Why do you think so little of yourself?" He asked after a moment and Lyyr bristled at his question. She clamped down on her irritation enough to answer him honestly.

"I was raised a slave, and treated like garbage; why would I think otherwise?"

"What did you tell the Council?" His curiosity was obvious to her.

"The story of my life," she quipped with a halfhearted smile. She turned away from the Jedi then not wanting them to see in her face how she was barely holding things together.